


No Strings Attached

by Mariana_Ceria



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Awkward Romance, Bisexual Female Character, Cheating, Children of Characters, Crossover, Denial of Feelings, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Family Drama, Family Fluff, Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Femslash, Long-Term Relationship(s), Loss, Love, Male-Female Friendship, Married Characters, Multi, Multi-Era, Multiverse, Mutual Pining, One-Sided Attraction, Past Lives, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Rebuilding, Romantic Fluff, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Tragic Romance, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26428612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariana_Ceria/pseuds/Mariana_Ceria
Summary: Mari led a decently happy life in Nohr- she was married with two children. But ends up getting whisked away to Fodlan, where she tries for years to find her way back to her husband and family in Nohr. However, despite her efforts, Mari ends up in Askr. Years go by as Mari continued to live different lives, over time she began to lose hope of ever seeing her family again, choosing finding solace in other individuals. Until one day, she manages to summon her husband.
Relationships: Alfonse & Summoner | Eclat | Kiran, Hector/Lyndis (Fire Emblem), Leon | Leo & My Unit | Kamui | Corrin, Leon | Leo/My Unit | Kamui | Corrin, Lyndis & Tactician (Fire Emblem), My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan, Raphael Kirsten & My Unit | Byleth, Sharon | Sharena & Summoner | Eclat | Kiran
Kudos: 4





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> This is a tale that explores pain and disconnect, there will be discussion of mental fatigue. The story follows Mari who lived many lives as Corrin, Byleth, Celica, Mark and more.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari was asked to summon a new hero by Anna, she ends up summoning Leo, her husband she'd left in Nohr.

Mari stood in front of the summoning alter, her gun at the ready; the Order of Heroes had been short-handed recently. Anna had requested her to summon more heroes, the woman groaned from under her hood, she’d only just managed to manifest these orbs. “I’ll only have to make more again…” she mumbles, loading up spheres woven from her magic, shaking her green hair off of her cheeks. Prepping herself, Mari took a deep breath before muttering a couple lines from her spellbook, her mind beginning to clear as colours manifested in a spiral at the centre of the alter. Waves of the spiral’s energy smacking against her face, it felt stronger today, there was a certain draw to it. 

The spiral had now mostly gone red. A strong sense of desire and sorrow filling her heart out of nowhere. She couldn’t pinpoint why she felt this way so suddenly. Not wanting to know the answer to her question, Mari took in a deep breath, aiming away from the red, worried that King Garon was seeking her out for revenge. It was bad enough that she’d summoned Iago recently, she was practically defenceless without her Yato and Dragonstone. Mari had been searching for years, looking for a replacement, it was harrowing to maintain her humanoid form consistently whilst guarding the Breidablik. 

Lost in thought, Mari’s aim slacked when she pulled the trigger, the orb rocketing for a streak of red light. She gasped, fearing for the worst she lunged at the coloured spiral, only to be painfully thrown back against the stone floor. Yelping, her pink eyes searched the centre of alter, seeing dark armour peeking from within the streaks of light. Mari felt herself go pale as the door behind her slammed open, Alfonse barging in, his arms encircling her as he posed himself to protect her from any impending danger. Shaking the prince off of her, Mari crawled towards the alter in morbid curiosity, fear bubbling up from within her. Only for Alfonse to pull at her arm, she looked back at him annoyed, trying to yank her arm from him. “I need to know.” She hissed, not wanting to spend her time letting him play knight in shining armour with her. Mari knew he’s taken a liking to her as opposed to how he reacted to her presence when she first arrived, he meant well. But she was not his Zacharias, nor did she intend to act as a replacement for the man, a pit of guilt lodged at her throat, when her husband, Leo’s face flashed through her mind. 

Not noticing that the ritual had ended, a shadow loomed over her as she managed to finally pull her arm from the blue-haired prince, the force from it sending her tumbling backwards, only managing to catch herself just in time. Her hood bouncing off her green tresses, Mari’s hands immediately went to pull the hood back over her head, only for a firm hand grasping her shoulder and pulling her back. ‘It’s Ganon.’ She thought panicking, her eyes frantically trying to signal to Alfonse for assistance only to be met with the tired orange irises.

Mari stopped struggling, relief pooling over her as Leo’s gaze softened. “Mari…?” Alfonse stopped his movements, watching the two confusedly, the pair’s eyes lighting up at the sight of each other. “…Leo!” She cried, turning over as he met her halfway, embracing each other. “I missed you, dove.” The blonde says, moving her green bangs from her eyes, the two stared at each other, noting that age had begun to settle into their faces. “It’s been too long.”


	2. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mari introduces Leo to the rest of the order and the two are separated for a time, leaving the both of them to focus on their thoughts. This chapter mostly dives into Leo's perspective.

Settling down in the mess hall, Mari stood in front of the serving table, avoiding holding her husband’s hand, she introduced him to her comrades. Keeping many details about their relationship to themselves, celebratory cheers filled the room to welcome the intelligent man. Letting the crowd welcome him, Mari doesn’t say much else, leaving him to his own devices, heavy thoughts weighing on her mind. Making her way to her seat with the heads of the order, Mari set her food down, noticing that Alfonse was eying her carefully like he wanted to say something to her. Dismissing the prince, she sits down and starting a conversation with Anna about Leo’s abilities and skills, letting Sharena distract her brother, while she discussed tactics with the red-haired commander. Before long, the two siblings joined in on the conversation, discussing better ways to improve their strategy with their new arrival in mind. 

Throughout the fruitful conversation, Mari noticed a pair of orange eyes watched her anxiously. The green-haired woman chose to ignore this, years of yearning and hopes being crushed had dulled her emotions, she liked to bottle things up, preferring to speak only when necessary. No longer was she naive to the world around her, trying to make peace with every creature on the planet. 

Leo was upset, to say the least. He knew Mari had missed him, it’d been years since they last saw each other, their children had grown up and were beginning to pave their own paths in life. They all missed her and kept waiting on the day she would return to them, never giving up hope. The blonde man felt so happy when he saw her again, he was so relieved that she was safe. The moment their eyes met, he saw her perk up upon seeing him, but also knew something was off. Whilst they’d only been married for a couple of years, the two knew each other for a very long time. He always knew how she felt and what was wrong, though this time it was slightly different. Mari’s eyes had grown cold and hopeless, the spark of naiveté and joy was gone. Leo loved her deeply regardless of what form or state she was in, but her change was alarming. It looked like years had passed through her eyes, despite her appearance. The man felt concerned for her, he wanted for them to be able to hold each other like they used to, but given her current state, he knew she needed to time. He needed time as well. 

Leo thought back to when he was suddenly enveloped into a red light, he thought his time had come and that he was being attacked. Only to hear his beloved’s voice calling for him. He tensed, thinking back to his last moments in Nohr, where his children screamed for him, at the time he was happy that Niles and Odin had held them back, but he wished that they’d come with him to reunite with their mother. Leo was worried, the pair were now parentless and though he trusted that the rest of his family and his retainers would do a good job of supporting them, he still felt worry riddle over him. Leo grew up with unloving parents, he wanted to give his children as much love as he could. The man regrets not having acting more lovingly to his two children, wishing he’d done more for them, ‘Especially for Forrest.’ He thought, thinking about how he treated the boy when he was much younger. 

His orange hues closed, thinking. Leo wasn’t confident in his parenting skills but knew that he’d raised his children to at least be self-sufficient and able to fend for themselves. Despite that, he wasn’t able to be emotionally available to them as much as he wanted to. This thought pained him, his children had suffered a lot from being born during wartime and being placed onto the battlefield. When they lost Corrin, things took a turn to the worst and he’d mostly relied on Elise to comfort them. He snorted, to think the most immature of them turned out to be the most reasonable in the end. Leo looked at Mari again, she’d begun to finish her food. Noticing the space between the royal siblings to Mari, he pursed his lips, feeling a tinge of jealousy. It’d been a while since he felt this way, it was oddly comforting albeit unwanted. Not knowing what the true nature of the trio’s relationship, he swallowed his greens and got up. He needed to talk to her again.


	3. Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Leo tries to approach Mari, but she runs off. Mari and Lyndis discuss feelings.

Mari felt her throat go dry when she sensed Leo walking over to her, gulping down the remainder of her food and drink, Mari gets up. She knew they had to talk, but she didn’t want to do so. 

Mari set her empty plate down on the counter, thanking the cooks for the meal, Mari made a beeline out of the mess hall, hurriedly acknowledging members of the order. Stepping out the wooden doors, Mari stops, leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath. The woman’s head spun with all sorts of thoughts, she didn’t know what to do. Looking out at the moonlight sky, Mari knew that she was being unfair to him, from the looks of it, Mari guessed that only about 10 years had passed for Leo. She was glad that it’d only been under 10 years for him since their unwitting departure from each other. At least 100 years had passed for her and though she remained youthful, years of stress and sadness had aged her body and soul. Mari felt childish having run from Leo, he was the only man she’d truly loved, so why couldn’t she just be honest with him? The doors creaked open beside her, looking alarmed, she sighed only seeing Lyndis exit the hall. 

“Lynnie…” Mari greets her dryly, knowing why she was out here instead of Leo. “I-I’ll talk…to him, I just need a little…just time, i-it’s-“ Mari began to ramble, her words overlapping each other. Mari felt ridiculous, didn’t maturity come with age? For an old crone, she being extremely childish. Lyn embraced Mari, giving her shoulder a squeeze, the woman could emphasise with her, having been suddenly whisked away from her home by one of Mari’s summons. “I know how you feel, Mari,” Lyn says “And I know that you’ll do what is right for you and everyone else- it is a huge task, but you must trust in your heart that you will know what must be done when the time is right.”

Lyn knew the details of Mari’s story, she didn’t judge her for her actions, nor did she bear resentment towards her for ripping her from her own husband. Mari breathed, reigning in her emotions again, composing herself. Lyn frowned at this. “You should stop doing that.” She says firmly, looking Mari in the eye, “Doing what?” Mari asks, despite knowing what she meant. Lyn rolled her eyes, “You know that it is bad for you and your mind. You must be honest, not just with me, but also with yourself. But right now, you must be honest about your marriage.” 

“…I am at least 150 years your senior, yet how are you so wise, Lyndis.” Mari smiles unhappily, “I only speak of what you already know.” Lyndis says. “It’s going to be difficult to tell him,” Mari says, watching the door nervously from the corner of her eye. “But you feel bad, don’t you?” Lyn paused with a knowing glance. “Your actions may hurt him, but they have been hurting you for much longer. You should care for yourself before you can either consider caring for him.” She continues.

Mari looked down at her feet, thinking. “I know and yes I do feel bad.” Mari says, “Just because I feel bad, does not mean I will be forgiven…though I’m not here to seek forgiveness, I suppose I can only hope for it. It is for him to decide. All I can do is be honest, but it eats at me, it hurts to think I should have to see his face fall…I…I really love him…messing this up would feel like the end for me.” 

“And because you love him, you should tell him the truth. No point dawdling, as a tactician, you should know, you confront the issue and defeat it. You knew…Mark knew…” Lyn reminisces for a moment before snapping out of her thoughts. “Sorry…” she apologises quickly, only for Mari to laugh at her reaction. “What’s there to be sorry about? Mark passed the torch to me and I know have the duty and honour of knowing you, Lynnie…Mark may be gone now, but a part of his soul dwells within me, he is proud of your growth and journey.” Mari tells her, knowing that Lyndis had once had feelings for her predecessor Mark. 

“Thank you…Mari…I’ll hold you on that,” Lyn says slowly, “I must return to the hall, my food is waiting, I can only hope that Celica has defended my dish from Tiki, though I know she’ll stay away from my vegetables.” Lyn laughs, Mari shook her head, thinking of the older dragon. “She’s too old for that,” Mari says, patting Lyn on the back. “Thank you, Lynnie. Truly.”


End file.
